Tools to take when away in your Syncro…

When you are away on holiday, for a weekend, week, or even a month! You don’t want a simple mechanical failure to ruin things. A rear wheel bearing failed whilst away last year, I had a spare in the cupboard and with some adaptation of tools we managed to change the bearing in a village car park and continue the trip!

Changing the rear wheel bearing on a T25 T3 Vanagon Westfalia Syncro

Over the years of owning Syncros I’ve built up a toolkit, if I am away on a trip – parked in a field, forest or even a town carpark. I like to have the tools with me to deal with those basic mechanical issues..

My top things to take away are:

1) Hammer – aka adjuster, loosener or remover.
2) Decent Breaker Bar 19mm with a 46 mm socket (I have a 1/2″ knuckle for mine, those 46mm hub nuts can be tough!
3) Spanners, usually the full range from 8 – 22mm.
4) Block of wood (mine is cut from a railway sleeper). Great for working, and bashing things on, or using as makeshift axle stand in emergencys.)
5) Molegrips – a good last resort for stubborn items.
6) Lengths of wire and a multimeter
7) 1/4 3/8 1/2 ratchets with range of sockets.
8 ) Gas powered Soldering Iron
9) Extendable Magnetic Pickup stick.. you don’t realise how useful until you need it!
10) Mobile phone with telephone number of an experience Syncro mechanic, or access to the club80-90 technical forum

I try and take along any tool that’d I’ll be happy to use to make a fix in the field. With some effort you can pack all your bits away into quite a small space:

I have adapted my raised bed on a platform with simple drawers underneath for tool storage – we’ll cover this on a later post.

With my 2.1dj doka I carry these parts,
1 Spare alternator,
2 Alternator Bracket (I have had two of these go),
3 Rear wheel baring pressed into a good hub,
4 Expansion tank (I have had two of these go),
5 Spare front and rear drive shafts built up with new CV joints fitted,
6 Fan belts,

I carry a kit similar to the one Jake posted up in the Westy but much more spare parts due to me off roading that much more and the extra miles we drive over seas.

Thanks Jed. The one that came as standard with my van has finally given up the ghost (well it is 30 years old I guess!!) and I’m looking for a new one. Does the Hi-Lift type fold down for easy storage?

I have the Jackall version (very similar to HiLift) made out of real metal unlike Jed’s bendy ebay version..

TBH – most of the time I use the original Syncro jack and a block of wood, the Hi-lift style jacks are heavy and cumbersome, although do lift very quickly. You’ll need an adpater to use if with the standard jacking points (about £20). Or have decent side bars to lift with..

Thanks – I’m guessing the syncro jack is different (meatier?) than the standard jack then? Just to add to my woes one of my jacking points collapsed today!! Time to hunt down a welder to rebuild it for me….. gggrrrr lol 🙂